| Every project needs to be driven by a strategy.
This is particularly true of a Web project. The strategy should
communicate the strategic goals the site aims to achieve. It paints
the big picture and not the practical details of implementation. It
should speak to the initiative's commercial or intellectual
imperatives. The web strategy may not be
achievable in the first phase of implementation. It should go beyond
the detailed confines of the project specification and will be of
little importance once day-to-day site production is underway. The
strategy, however, is crucial to molding the proposed solution and
project specification.
Everything should grow from it. Just as a
business be guided by a mission statement and a business plan, so
should a web site.
The process of creating a web strategy is likely
to involve market research, a customer needs analysis, competitive
positioning, risk analysis, financial modeling, benchmarking,
funding requirements, ROI projections and goals for future growth.
Site content plays a critical role in this
strategy. What used to pass as acceptable is now not good enough.
Users have been conditioned to expect quality content. If they do
not find it on your site, they will seek it elsewhere.
It is critical that your project manager
understand this. Too many project managers hail from the technical
side of the business. They produce technically proficient sites that
fail to resonant with users.
To create a successful delivery medium, name a
project manager who has, in addition to technical skills, creative
and commercial ones. |
